BVU In Line For $3 Million Appropriation For Fiber-Optic Expansion

BRISTOL, Va. – An effort by Bristol Virginia Utilities to improve broadband telecommunications could soon receive a $3 million boost.
Last week, the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission’s Southwest Economic Development Committee recommended a $3 million appropriation for BVU.
The money would be used to help construct a $3.9 million, 49-mile expansion of the existing fiber-optic loop, including new “points of presence” facilities in Marion and at the Glade-Highlands Industrial Park near Glade Spring.
An additional $500,000 request is pending and the full commission is expected to vote on the recommendations at its Oct. 29 meeting in Wytheville.
“This would allow us to provide redundant [fiber-optic] routes for all our customers, but especially Northrop Grumman and CGI-AMS [in Russell County],” said Stacey Bright, BVU executive vice president and chief financial officer. “This would assure them of no down time and – in a data-driven world – without a backup they don’t work.”
During the past four years, BVU has expanded its fiber-optic network to serve commercial clients in rural areas across the Mountain Empire. That expansion is credited with fueling economic development efforts that attracted those two firms to Lebanon.
Plans call for installing 49 miles of fiber-optic backbone, connecting the existing Citizens Telephone backbone at Independence to BVU facilities in Marion and west along the Interstate 81 corridor.
In addition to securing the infrastructure in this region, the project would link to a similar network operated by Mid-Atlantic Broadband in Southside Virginia.
“Redundancy is very important in the data business,” said Delegate Terry Kilgore, chairman of the economic development committee that approved the recommendation. “Their down time isn’t like down time in my [law] office.”
The committee also recommended that BVU seek the additional $500,000 from either the commission’s Executive or Southside Economic Development committees.
Kilgore, R-Gate City, said the commission no longer fully funds projects but expects one of the other committees could provide some support.
The balance of the funding would come from previously unspent grants, Bright said.
The proposed expansion is part of a two-year plan and was requested by the two data centers, Bright said, adding that it’s designed to benefit this region.
“This will provide a backup for everybody on our system, from people’s homes to Snack Alliance to all the businesses in Bristol,” Bright said.
If funding is approved next month, the work could be completed by April 2010.

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